Like the majority of his “Top Gun: Maverick” co-stars, Miles Teller sat in the cockpit of a fighter jet during the filming of several high-octane dogfight action scenes. Unlike his co-stars, Teller came down with an allergic reaction from taking to the skies and discovered he had jet fuel in his bloodstream.
“We landed, and I thought, ‘Man, I’m not feeling too good,’” Teller revealed to Seth Meyers on “Late Night” this week (via IndieWire). “I was really hot and I just started itching like crazy. So I got out of the jet. I’m just covered in hives. Head to toe. I go to a doctor. I do a blood analysis. I’m in an oatmeal bath that night. I have sensitive skin anyway, truth be told, Irish-Scottish skin. No dyes, no nothing.”
The results of Teller’s blood analysis confirmed that he had “flame-retardant, pesticide and jet fuel” in his bloodstream. The actor recovered and informed co-star Tom Cruise about the findings.
“I go to set the next day and Tom‘s like, ‘How did it go Miles? What did they find?’” Teller said. “I was like, ‘Well, Tom, it turns out I have jet fuel in my blood.’ And without even skipping a beat Tom goes ‘Yeah, I was born with it, kid. So that was a very Tom moment for me.”
Teller stars in “Top Gun: Maverick” as Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, son of the late Nick “Goose” Bradshaw. The “Whiplash” star was at the top of director Joseph Kosinski’s mind when the story for “Maverick” was being mapped out. “Maverick” is one of three Kosinski-directed features Teller has starred in along with “Only the Brave” and “Spiderhead.”
“I was actually in post on ‘Only the Brave,’ this was May 2017, so Miles Teller was on my mind,” Kosinski recently told Vulture about casting Teller. “The relationship in that movie is a very paternal one with Josh Brolin’s character. So I showed Tom a picture of Miles because Miles has blond hair in that film. And I think I’d Photoshopped a mustache on him. I’m like, ‘I just worked with this kid. He’s really good.’ We still went through the audition process, and Miles won the role on his own.”
“Top Gun: Maverick” has earned $409 million at the U.S. box office to become the top grosser of the year at the domestic box office. The film continues to play in theaters nationwide.